


To Be Your Last Good Night and Your First Good Day

by jacksparrow589



Series: The js589 Shirbert Soundtrack [3]
Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Gilbert is prone to kitchen mishaps in every continuity, Making Out, Modern Era, Shirbert, There's just kind of a lot of feelings and relatively little plot, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:40:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24158269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksparrow589/pseuds/jacksparrow589
Summary: This wasn't how I imagined spending the night before my 20th birthday. Or any of them.Anne stopped to wipe her eyes. Marilla had called earlier to check on her—was she feeling better? Should Marilla come down to Halifax this weekend and make her some soup? Matthew would sure love to join, and Mary had offered to make a cake to be brought down so Anne could celebrate her birthday properly. Anne had barely been able to end the call properly before bursting into tears. Thankfully, she was managing to avoid another complete meltdown, but only just barely.Anne shook her head, capping her pen and grabbing a highlighter to fiddle with. Her phone buzzed again. She shouldn't answer it, she knew, but she was distracted anyway.And, well, it was Gilbert.------Anne has had quite a day. Gilbert shows up and makes it better in ways even he didn't quite expect.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Series: The js589 Shirbert Soundtrack [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728880
Comments: 45
Kudos: 144
Collections: anne with an e





	To Be Your Last Good Night and Your First Good Day

**Author's Note:**

> Your song for this fic is "What a Man Gotta Do" by the Jonas Brothers.
> 
> This is, as the tags indicate, set in the modern day. Anne and Gilbert are studying at Dalhousie. Gilbert is going into medical research, and Anne is pursuing a major in journalism and a minor in environmental studies. She's gravitating toward being an investigative journalist, and she wants to focus on environmental and human rights issues in Canada. They're not together just yet (kinda the whole point, here), but they've had a few almost-moments.

Anne sighed. _What a day._

It had been pouring and thundering since the early morning. She'd gotten soaked on the way to and from classes, and the sensory memories of drenched denim against her legs and sopping socks sloshing around in shoes that carried their weight in water still had her shuddering even after a hot shower. She looked toward the bathroom where even her sweater hung, since she'd decided to cover her backpack with her jacket rather than risk ruining her laptop, books, and notes.

_Ugh._ She crossed her legs and pulled them toward herself. Her period had decided to show up a little early. She'd been out of sorts all day, having barely had time to recover from a head cold that had knocked her out for a week before all this had set in. None of the studying she'd been doing for mid-term exams was feeling like it was sticking at the right time—she was always coming up with all the information for every other topic except the one she was trying to focus on—and her first one was tomorrow. 

As was her birthday.

_This wasn't how I imagined spending the night before my 20th birthday. Or any of them._

Anne stopped to wipe her eyes. Marilla had called earlier to check on her—was she feeling better? Should Marilla come down to Halifax this weekend and make her some soup? Matthew would sure love to join, and Mary had offered to make a cake to be brought down so Anne could celebrate her birthday properly. Anne had barely been able to end the call properly before bursting into tears. Thankfully, she was managing to avoid another complete meltdown, but only just barely.

Anne shook her head, capping her pen and grabbing a highlighter to fiddle with. Her phone buzzed again. She shouldn't answer it, she knew, but she was distracted anyway.

And, well, it was Gilbert.

Anne picked up her phone. "Hey Gil," she sighed heavily.

"Hey… you okay?" Of course he'd notice.

"Yeah," Anne replied with an unconvincing sniffle. "Just had a bit of a rough day. She swiped her wrist across her eyes. They were watering again. "How're you?"

"I'm fine…" He took a deep breath. "I was just wondering if… if you wanted some company."

Anne blinked. "Oh! I'd… I'd love that, but I'm not very good company. I'm just studying for my environmental ethics midterm."

Gilbert sighed. "Have you taken a break at all tonight?"

Anne looked at the clock. It was 10:30, and she wasn't going to be going to bed anytime soon. "No."

"Well, can you come down and let me in, then?"

Caught completely off-guard, Anne laughed. "You sneaky so-and-so! What were you going to do if I turned you away?!" She snapped her phone shut and hurriedly padded out her apartment to the stairs down to the lobby, pushing the door open to beckon Gilbert in. He'd been huddled in the entrance, the awning just wide enough to keep the torrential rain off him. "I'd have tailgated the next person to come in and given you the shivering puppy eyes," he answered.

Anne rolled her eyes. "Someday, your charm is going to backfire on you," she informed him as they ascended the stairs to the second floor.

"Oh, I hope so. I've always been curious what that would actually look like." Gilbert shed his shoes and jacket at the door of Anne's apartment. He went to the kitchen and pulled a grocery bag from his backpack, setting it on the counter before locating two mugs and a small glass bowl.

"...Care to fill me in on what it is you're doing?" Anne asked from behind him, arms crossed.

"Patience," Gilbert told her. "All will become clear presently." He tossed some applesauce, flour, honey, vanilla, pie spice, milk, baking powder, and an egg into the bowl, whisking it before pouring it out into the two mugs and sticking them in Anne's microwave. As they cooked, he explained, "I asked Marilla if she had any idea what kind of cake you'd like for your birthday. She said you liked an apple spice cake she made a while back." He moved the bowl and the spoon he'd used to mix the ingredients to the sink and rinsed them before continuing, "So I looked up how to make mug cakes. How badly could I mess those up?"

Anne raised an eyebrow. "Turn around and find out."

Gilbert's eyes widened a little as he spun around. "Ah, shit!" he cursed under his breath. He wrenched the microwave door open and sighed. "Dammit…" He pulled out the mugs, which were overflowing with half-baked cake batter, and sighed. "Well, how do you feel about half-baked apple spice cake with vanilla ice cream?"

Anne knew she'd lit up brilliantly when Gilbert brightened immensely in return. "I think it's an excellent idea." She pulled the ice cream out of the bag while Gilbert mopped up the mess in the microwave. "Thanks, Gil." Her tone was utterly sincere.

Gilbert laughed. "You're thanking me after I exploded cake in your microwave? This charm of mine really is foolproof."

Anne chuckled. "Maybe the cake explosion was the backfire."

"I wasn't bringing the cake to be charming," Gilbert told her as he rinsed off the sponge. At Anne's disbelieving look, he admitted, "Okay, maybe just a little."

Anne started scooping out ice cream, but her cheeks were just a little pink.

They settled down at the table, and Gilbert held out his mug. Anne knocked hers against it. "To...?" she wondered.

"Your birthday tomorrow. To you." Gilbert's smile was kind, and there was something else in it that Anne couldn't quite place, but it made her stomach feel warm and pleasantly fizzy, even as she started eating. That had been happening a lot around Gilbert lately. She'd caught him looking at her a few weeks back, during a discussion of Valentine's dates. Anne had said she thought the perfect date was a night in with a simple dinner and dessert and a good game of Scrabble. Gilbert had (very wisely, as Diana noted), answered that since it didn't matter much to him, he'd be plenty happy to spend it however a hypothetical girlfriend wanted, within reason, "but a night in seems like a good way to go", he'd added. It was just one of the latest in a string of increasingly frequent occurrences over the past few years that had her wondering why they didn't just—

"...Anne?" Gilbert's voice brought her back to reality. "You sure everything's okay?"

"I..." Anne let out a shuddering sigh. "It's just been one of those days, you know?" She could feel her eyes filling again. "Sorry. Marilla called earlier, and I'd just gotten warm and dry, and I've just been studying and I... I'm just tired. I needed this, and by some miracle…" Anne heaved out another sigh and let one tear escape before continuing in a near-whisper, "Here you are. Thank you."

Gilbert reached across the table for Anne's hand. She gave him a quavering smile and squeezed it before standing and taking her now empty mug to the sink. After depositing it, she leaned against the counter and took a few deep breaths. Gilbert's chair scraped back behind her, and she could feel him standing behind her. He set his mug down on the counter and placed his hand on her shoulder. Before she would let herself think about it, Anne leaned back, taking Gilbert's hands and wrapping them around her waist. Gilbert froze for just a moment before pulling Anne more securely against him and resting his chin next to her cheek.

Anne took a few more deep, steadying breaths, then quickly turned and lifted her hands to pull Gilbert's face down before pressing her lips firmly to his. His arms tightened around her before relaxing and resting his hands on her hips. Anne rose up on her toes and leaned back against the counter, pulling back from Gilbert just long enough to hop up and seat herself there. She leaned back in, but Gilbert stopped her just short by resting his forehead against Anne's. "Sorry, I just... It's not that I think you don't want this, but I want to make sure that... that we're on the same page about what this means."

"What do _you_ want?" Anne asked him. "Other than the obvious, I mean."

Gilbert let out a quiet laugh. "I was going to ask you out before Valentine's day, but it seemed cheesy, and I lost my nerve. And then I caught that cold, and then you caught it, and I told myself that by your birthday, I'd do it. I don't want to be just friends anymore: I want you to—I want to be _yours_."

"Well... I think we're in agreement, then," Anne told him. "Because I'd very much like to be _yours_ , whatever that entails."

"Right now, I think it can go back to entailing this," Gilbert told her before kissing her again. His hands were back on Anne's hips, and he pulled her to him. Anne wrapped her legs around his waist and slid one hand up into Gilbert's hair, resting the other at the back of his neck. Gilbert made a noise in the back of his throat and slid one arm around Anne's waist and the other up her back to cradle the back of her neck. Anne tilted her head just a little to deepen the kiss, making an impatient noise that turned into a soft sigh of pleasure when Gilbert's lips left hers only to instead brush just below her ear. Gilbert leaned against the counter as he worked his way down Anne's neck with soft kisses that had her reeling.

"Gil..." She whimpered, "I want..."

"You want...?" Gilbert murmured against her throat as he trailed back up toward her jaw.

"I want more of this, but I need to study," Anne managed to gasp out, as scrambled as her thoughts were at the moment. She managed to unwrap her legs, but couldn't quite bear to completely let him go just then. She started going over the topics in her head as Gilbert ran his hand through her ponytail. After a long moment, she pulled out the hair tie. "Actually, I think I've studied enough for tonight." She rested her forehead against Gilbert's. "I know I said I want to be yours, whatever that entails, but I don't think I'm quite ready for it to entail... _everything_ just yet." She bit down on her lower lip anxiously.

Gilbert's cheeks went just a little rosy. "I hadn't planned on going _quite_ that far—or really even _this_ far—tonight, myself," he admitted. "But that does leave the question of when you want to stop."

Of all things, Anne looked at the clock on the microwave. "Well, I should probably go to bed at midnight..."

Gilbert let out an embarrassed cough. "I meant the, um, _other_ kind of when."

Anne blinked, processing. "Ohmygod. Sorry. I just kind of… spaced. Um… I think… where we're at?" she asked timidly.

"I can work with that," Gilbert assured her. He glanced at the window. "That said, with midnight in mind… I wasn't planning on it, I swear, but do you mind if I stay over in that case? I need to be up for a 9 AM class tomorrow and I don't feel like walking back in the rain at midnight. Your couch is pretty comfortable."

Anne rolled her eyes. "After this? You're sleeping in the bed with me." She looked at the kitchen table. "Just let me clean my notes up, first."

Gilbert took a step back to let her hop off the counter. Anne grabbed her pens to zip back into her pen case before shuffling her papers together and filing them away. She tucked her notebook into her backpack and straightened up to find Gilbert giving her a speculative look. "...Everything okay?" she prompted.

"More than okay. I just… came over expecting to do this nice thing for you and then ask you out, and even though it did not go to plan in any way, shape, or form, it turned out so much better. Hell, I'm not convinced that that mug cake wasn't better half-baked!" He smiled when Anne laughed.

"Well, we can try it again this weekend. Make them properly and see if they're truly better half-baked. Proper experimental design," Anne joked.

Gilbert rolled his eyes fondly. "Proper experimental design involves replicating conditions and results. Come on, Anne: you know this."

"I guess we'll just have to do this every weekend for a while, then," Anne shot back playfully as she started to walk to her bedroom. "Proper enough for you?"

"I won't object to every weekend, but there are definitely other things I'd like to do with our time, and they are far from proper," Gilbert told her very seriously as he followed her and leaned on the dresser while Anne sat down on the bed.

Anne looked up at him, tilting her head just a little "I think we're plenty smart enough to figure out how to allow time for both."

Gilbert needed only one step to close the distance between them, his mouth crashing down onto Anne's. Somewhere in the space between breathless, hard kisses, they went from where they'd started to Gilbert covering Anne, one hand tangled in her hair and the other running up and down her side. Anne's hands were tangled in his hair, but when one of his caresses accidentally hitched up one side of her shirt, one of her hands immediately leapt to the hem of his shirt. She began to run her foot up and down one of his legs, then stopped.

"Ugh, Gil, the cuffs of your jeans are still sopping," she murmured against his lips.

Gilbert kept kissing her as he spoke. "So, you're saying they're a damper on the mood?"

Anne rolled her eyes, but couldn't help laughing. "Oh, God, you are _terrible_. Like, the actual worst."

"I said it before I could really think about it," Gilbert admitted, pulling away. "But I stand by it."

"Stand by it or not; just get those damn things off." Despite trying to sound at least a little commanding, Anne gave Gilbert a sweet kiss.

Gilbert propped himself up to look Anne in the eye, quite serious. Softly, he asked, "I thought you wanted clothing to stay on?"

Anne looked at her dresser, doing a mental inventory. "I'm sure I have basketball shorts or sweats or leggings or _something_ that'll fit you. But even if I don't…" She shrugged and let out a slightly uncertain sigh. "Underwear will be… fine."

"And how do you know I didn't go commando today?" Gilbert wanted to know, back to teasing.

Anne raised an eyebrow. "My hand is literally down the back of your jeans right now." She punctuated the statement with a gentle squeeze.

"Fair enough." Gilbert dropped a quick kiss to Anne's forehead and got up, waiting until Anne produced a pair of basketball shorts before turning around to undo and remove his jeans.

"You… know I can still see you, right?" Anne was very clearly trying not to laugh.

"I'm aware," Gilbert told her, almost nonchalantly as he pulled on the shorts. "I figured I'd preserve at least _some_ modesty, Miss Mixed Messages." He turned back around.

Anne was sitting on the bed. "First off, I didn't ask for your jeans to come off for—for sexual reasons; it's because wet jeans are gross. Second, you were keeping your underwear on anyway, so I don't really see what difference you turning around makes. Third—" she smirked "—yellow and white is a _terrible_ color combination on you. At least when combined with a red shirt. You look like a fast food condiment rack." 

"Says the redhead!" Gilbert protested.

"Auburn!" Anne corrected. "And you know you like it." 

It was Gilbert's turn to smirk, his eyes utterly molten as he leaned in. " _Yup._ " He only just brushed his lips against Anne's, sitting down so his back was against the headboard and his legs were on either side of Anne. She obligingly scooted up against him to sit across his lap so that her legs were thrown over one of his, and gave him a long, deep kiss before starting to work her way down his neck. Upon reaching the collar of his t-shirt, however, she stopped and nuzzled into his neck. Gilbert had mostly been quiet, but the sweetness of the action drew a contented sigh from him. He threaded a hand through the hair at the nape of her neck.

"Remind me why it is that it took us so stupidly long to actually acknowledge how we feel about each other?" Anne wanted to know.

"Well, jokingly calling you Carrot Top when you moved to town certainly didn't endear me to you," Gilbert replied. "I was very much under the impression that I was persona non grata from mid-junior year until mid-way through senior year—"

"Correct," confirmed Anne.

"—and then we didn't see as much of each other for the next two years except for holidays and summers, and it seemed like anytime we made real progress, one of us would conveniently mention not wanting any kind of distance in a relationship. And I don't know about you, but classes for me have been kind of intense for the last year."

Anne smiled softly, just a little rueful. "Not to mention I was back to running away any time you looked at me for more than about five seconds because… I was afraid of what it meant." She fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "I'm just kind of used to… to not sticking around. I think I'm still kind of getting used to being in one place. Going to college… it was different than moving, but still kind of the same. I was a little bit all over the place last year." She licked her lips and looked up at Gilbert. "Sorry. That got kinda heavy."

Gilbert was quiet for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "That's going to happen sometimes." He sighed. "My dad was sick for a long time before you showed up. I know you know he's got a heart condition, but there were a few years where… where it really wasn't looking good. He was too sick to get the surgery he needed, but the year before you came to Avonlea, he finally was well enough to get it. You know the rest—he's been better since—but every time he mentions feeling more tired than usual, or if he has a cough or something…" he trailed off. "But there was something he said when I was old enough to learn about my mom. Being together makes things easier. We're not really meant to be alone. Everyone needs someone to lean on in some way." He tightened his arms around Anne for a moment. "I know that we haven't really had to deal with a lot, but even when I'm just having a bad day, you make it easier."

Anne gave him a half-smile. "And tonight is proof-positive that it goes the other direction." She gave him another soft kiss. "Thank you again, really. Even without the whole making out thing, it really has made me feel better."

"...But the making out didn't hurt?" Gilbert prompted in a half-joking tone.

"The making out didn't hurt," Anne verified, merriment sparkling in her eyes as she leaned up for another kiss.

After what felt like an eternity of soft kisses, tender smiles, and sweet looks later, Gilbert caught sight of Anne's alarm clock. "Time flies," he murmured.

Anne craned to look at the clock. It read eleven fifty-five. "Yeah, I should probably get ready for bed." She grabbed a set of pajamas and went into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth while Gilbert went to the kitchen and grabbed the toothbrush he kept in his backpack for the library all-nighters that had become far too frequent for a while.

He returned to find Anne sitting on the edge of her bed turning off her phone for the night. She looked up and smiled at him as he came into the room, and for a moment, it felt like he'd come home.

_Forget the cakes and the making out and whatever else he's got planned; this is the real present._ Anne patted the bed beside her and wriggled down under the covers, making a contentedly tired noise when Gilbert joined her and, with Anne having just turned out the light, bumped his nose into hers before finding her lips for one more kiss. 

"As it's midnight," he murmured, "Please allow me to be the first to wish you a very happy birthday."

Anne shook with quiet laughter. "Well, it's been wonderful so far."

"And I'll do my best to make sure it stays that way," Gilbert promised, pulling one of her hands to him and kissing the back of it. "Good night, Anne."

"G'night, Gil." Anne closed her eyes and, as was her custom, made a quick birthday wish: that this was how all of them would start from now on.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so, I meant to post this a few days after Burning Like a Fire Gone Wild, but, well, life intervened. My inspiration just kind of deserted me, and I had a few false starts, but nothing really stuck. And then a whole bunch of other ideas cropped up, but none of them are fully written yet, either, so they're not posted. I think they should flow a little more easily now that I don't have them all competing for space in my head, at least.
> 
> Anyway, I got the idea for this when I was making some mug cakes and put a bit too much leavening in them. Cue 'splode-y mug cakes, and the idea of Gilbert trying to do something nice for Anne's birthday after she's had a shit day, and then I was like, you know, I haven't written a good sitting-on-a-counter makeout scene… and this just kind of developed from there. But it developed in chunks and so I'm really sorry if it doesn't flow like it should. I think some of the upcoming ones are better, but in all honesty, I am just done with fussing over this one.
> 
> Thank you for bearing with this disasterpiece! As always, comments are appreciated and responded to, both here and on Tumblr (js589 is my handle over there).


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